It’s
been nearly nine years since I first started watching Willenhall Town and in that
time the club has been on something of a rollercoaster ride that makes even
Wolves’ self-determined demise of the last few years look mild in comparison.
It had resulted in them having to sell their home of 60 years so that they
could survive, although unlike many, they were fortunate enough to find another
club to take it off their hands, which meant instead of hitting the road whilst
a Tesco or housing estate popped up in its place, they were able to continue playing
there, albeit in the form of tenants as Sporting Khalsa moved in and took over
the freehold.

It
had been a welcome relief to myself especially, as Noose Lane is the venue
which in many ways I consider to be the site of my first real experience of
non-league, so it holds a special place in my heart, along with Willenhall themselves,
but after a few seasons of co-habitation, in the summer of 2013 it was
announced that the Lockmen would be leaving and instead heading north to
Essington and the much used Long Lane Park, former home of Wyrley Rangers,
amongst many others.

The
club had of course released positive statements regarding the switch, of it
being a new start and a way forward, but the reality is that with it being a difficult
ground to get to and a lot less developed, then it was an unwelcome move for
many, even if the last few years at Noose Lane had become a depressing
experience.

Not
only had the paintwork been changed from Willenhall’s red to Khalsa’s blue, but
the clubhouse had been separated from the ground, turned into a new bar named ‘The
442 Lounge’, along with the club shop and refreshment hut being boarded up, all
on top of dwindling crowds, down to the last few dozen hardy souls watching
routine hammerings week in, week out, but even taking all that into account,
Noose Lane had still been the one constant, so moving had seemed like the final
hammer blow to the club, whichever way it was badged up as a fresh start.

The
two sides had of course met previously with Willenhall as the ‘away’ team, but this
was the first time that the club had been back after leaving, so it was an
occasion not to miss, and I’d been looking forward to heading ‘home’ since the
start of the season, but the weather had other ideas, and the initial date of
January 4th was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, with the game
being rearranged for 6 weeks later instead.

Even
for the new date, there was still a doubt about whether it would go ahead with
the weather not having got a great deal better since the start of the year, rain
and wind having lashed the country for a prolonged period, but surprisingly, a
pitch inspection at 5pm gave the go ahead, and so it was a quick dash home from
work before back across the Black Country and onto a familiar route and a trip
down memory lane.

I
was genuinely looking forward to visiting the ground again, it felt like going
home, seeing Willenhall back where they belong. Technically it would be a new
tick, not having seen Khalsa as the home side here, but that was never going to
be the real reason for the visit, simply wanting to relive the matchday
experience since passed with the Lockmen’s move away.

On
walking up Noose Lane itself, the first indication that something wasn’t quite
right came when seeing the floodlights and not quite being able to work out
what was different. Previously you always used to have a semi-decent view into
the ground with the road being higher, but the fence for the car park had been
taken down and buildings put up in its place. OK, not too much different I
thought, even having spotted another addition, with a new turnstile in the near
corner as well, so I carried onwards to the former clubhouse, which in
fairness, had been vastly improved since being re-branded as the 442 Lounge and
turned into a smart bar come restaurant. This was when it dawned that there
really had been some big changes that had taken place since the summer. The
main gates and turnstiles were gone, in their place decking and outdoor seating
had been installed, leaving nothing
remaining of the former entrance to the ground. It was a bit odd I thought, but
still no big issue, a small change of entrance from one side of the car park to
the other… That was until having finished a quick pint I headed back over to
the new turnstile block, only to go through, and be left gobsmacked!

If
you’d have blindfolded me and dropped me inside the ground without saying where
it was I’d genuinely have struggled to figure it out that it was a venue I’d
visited dozens of times before, over the best part of a decade. The change was
startling. Whilst I’d always considered Noose Lane a second home as such, if
truth be told, it was never a ground I’d really liked that much. It was a very
wide open space, with large gaps between the touchlines and barriers, and
always looking very windswept and uncoordinated with banking around the far
side and end, and the near side a bit messy with unpainted fences and rough
ground behind the hard standing. The whole ground had looked, if not uncared
for, a little run down, yet now it couldn’t be more different. Whilst the pitch
is in the same place (more or less from what I could tell), the surrounds make
it into a tight, compact ground, looking extremely neat and tidy. Along what
was the far side, now the near, sits the old Main Stand in the middle, having
been totally refurbished, with the seats replaced from fading red, half of
which had been broken/burned by vandals in latter years to a bright blue/yellow
mix, the exterior repainted black and even the hole in the roof repaired! Where
it had sat on a grass bank before, the pitchside barriers had been moved a
couple of yards forward, closing the gap between the stand and touchline, and
the old barrier had been filled in with a fence, to make the side feel
enclosed. It was the same continuing behind the far goal, the barriers having
moved closer to the pitch and the old hard standing disappeared behind fences,
whilst there was new smart looking block paving running around all four sides.
Over on the far side, the old terrace was still there, but looking quite
isolated a good 10 yards away from the barriers, whereas before they had run
right in front of it. At the near end sat the new facilities, the dressing rooms
directly behind the goal, the old clubhouse/dressing rooms barely visible, cut off behind more fencing,
the few small steps of terracing that had been at this end, now somewhere
beneath the car park. Probably helped by the night, the black colour scheme
gave a feel of intimacy and it was fair to say I wasn’t the only one wandering
around before the game started, shocked by just how much it had changed.

Whilst
it might not be a new ground, Khalsa themselves are a relatively new club. Formed
in 1991 as a Sunday League side, they first entered the West Midlands Regional
League in 1996, lasting only one season before returning to local football,
until 2004 when they re-entered the WMRL at Division 2 level. They experienced
a much better debut season this time around, winning promotion at the first
time of asking, and having established themselves at Step 7, the summer of 2010
was to be a big year for the club, with the purchase of Noose Lane seeing them
move in with Willenhall, allowing them to progress by achieving their second
promotion, this time to the WMRL Premier, where they’ve remained ever since,
2013/14 being their most successful year to date at the time of writing.

Going
into the match, they sat third in the table, with Willenhall third bottom in 21st.
The Lockmen’s form since the financial troubles started is the stuff of
nightmares. Of the last 194 league matches (since the start of 2009/10) they’ve
lost 141 (a 77% loss ratio). Even worse, they’ve conceded 592 goals, an average
of over three per game, this measured over five seasons. A win wasn’t on the
cards, at least not for the visitors, but from the off they gave it a real go,
and looked as strong as at any time since they had a decent Southern League/NPL
side prior to the crisis. It was unfortunate then when Khalsa did take the lead
in the 28th minute thanks to Liam Hughes. The hosts, whilst looking
the more dangerous, hadn’t had many golden chances up to then, but Hughes was
able to brush past several defenders and lash the ball home inside the post to
open the scoring.

Despite
this setback, it looked like the one goal would be the only difference as half
time approached, with the game still fairly even, but a corner from the near
side for Khalsa had been whipped over to the far post, where it was headed down
into the path of Robbie Holdcroft who fired home low through a crowded area in
the 41st minute to make it 2-0. With this, you could visibly see
Willenhall’s confidence slip and the hosts added a third two minutes later when
Liam Hughes put over what looked like a cross from the right hand side which
looped over everyone’s head to drop nicely into the corner of the net for his
second and to make it a harsh scoreline of 3-0 at the break.

After
the restart, Khalsa had enough opportunities to more than double their lead with
chance after chance going begging, until the 57th minute when Mark
Habbershaw made it four, tapping in a shot that had been parried by the ‘keeper
straight into his path. It looked like another rout on the cards, perhaps even
a repeat of the 8-0 victory when the sides had met earlier in the season, but the
visitors seemed to rally at this point and in the 61st minute Tony
Clift got one back, albeit with a severely deflected shot from the edge of the
area looping up over the goalkeeper and just in under the bar. It was a glint
of hope thoughm and six minutes later their luck seemed to be changing when the
home side went down to 10 men. On the break, one of Town’s strikers had been
pulled back by the last defender, with the ref making no hesitation in showing
the red card. It had caused a few arguments on the benches with the incident
happening a good 40 yards from goal and another Khalsa defender being close to
the action, but it looked a right decision by the ref, and eight minutes later
Willenhall reduced the deficit to 4-2 when Joe Noel scrambled the ball in at
the far post. At this point, if the visitors could have found a third goal, then
it could have turned interesting, but it wasn’t to be, and Khalsa wrapped
things up two minutes from time when from a corner, the ball was played to the
edge of the box where Liam Hughes stood unmarked and had time to pick his spot
to complete his hat-trick and finish the game at 5-2 for a well deserved
victory by the home side.

Whilst
I’d made the journey partly with the intention of taking a trip down memory
lane, and partly wanting to dislike Khalsa as the ground stealers, it’s fair to
say that I came away with the completely opposite impression of the hosts, and
it having helped close a chapter on Willenhall’s demise that had seemed to be
dragging on with their exile from the ground.

Whilst
technically it might be the same ground that I first discovered non-league
football at, it really isn’t the same ground at all any more in reality. Khalsa
haven’t simply taken over and kicked out the home team, they really have
improved it massively and made it into their own home. Some might view it as a
shame that Willenhall no longer play here, but in reality it has been a break
from what seemed a depressing noose (no pun intended) around the neck, a
reminder that they were down on their luck and things aren’t what they were.
More regular fans than myself might disagree perhaps or have never felt that
way in the first place, but what tonight proved to me was that the ground has
gone and there’s no point in harping back to what used to be. Khalsa on the
other hand have made a real effort and whilst having the money to do it is of
course a nice position to be in, what they are doing is a real credit and
benefit to non-league football, and with any luck they should continue to
progress up the pyramid with a ground that away fans can now look forward to
enjoying visiting as opposed having to wrap up and brave the cold of its former
windswept open spaces.

Hopefully
the pictures below will show a small glimpse of those changes. As regular
readers of the site (if there are any left) will no doubt have noticed, then I haven’t
updated this site in over 18 months now, partly through a loss of interest. As
a result I’d never set out intending to do a review, so these images are only
from an iPhone camera, and of course after dark is never a good time to take
pictures, so apologies for the lack of quality.